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The Grapes Of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath
THE EPIC STORY OF THE JOAD FAMILY'S
MIGRATION FROM THE OKLAHOMA DUST BOWL TO
THE PROMISED LAND OF CALIFORNIA

The vision of California as the “promised land” have been in existence since the discovery of gold in the state in 1848.   The period of Gold Rush brought a huge influx of immigrants to California with hopes and dreams of striking it rich quick.   However, with the number of foreigners increasing in the state, the sentiments of racism against those foreigners increased as well.   During the Gold Rush, Mexicans became the victims of economic jealousy of the Anglo-Saxon natives of California due to the greater experience of Mexicans in mining.   Later, it will be the Chinese to suffer racism during the railroads constructions.   During the period racism against minorities was justified by the theories of Manifest Destiny, the idea of whites being the superior race.
Almost seven decades later, once again, the same vision of California as the “promised land” would bring another chapter of racism in the states history.   However, this time racism will not be towards minorities, but towards other whites in form of anti-immigrant sentiments.   It   was the years of Great Depression and a phenomenon known as the Dust Bowl.   The Dust Bowl was a period of major dust storms causing major ecological and agriculture damage to American prairie lands from 1930 to 1936, in some areas until 1940.   It was a ecological and human disaster caused by misuse of land and years of sustained drought.   It rendered millions of acres of land useless, causing hundreds and thousands of people to abandon their land and homes in search of better conditions.  
The Dust Bowl exodus was the largest migration in American history. By 1940, 2.5 million people had moved out of the Plains states; of those, 200,000 moved to California .   Once again California became the “promised land with its mild climate that allowed for long growing seasons and a diversity of crops with...